The Water Horse (2007)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Jay Russell

Writers (WGA):

Robert Nelson Jacobs (screenplay)
Dick King-Smith (book)

Release Date:

25 December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Every big secret starts small.

Plot:

A lonely boy discovers a mysterious egg that hatches a sea creature of Scottish legend. |

Plot Keywords:

Thunderstorm | Echo | Artillery | Single Mother | Mother Son Relationship

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Bruce Allpress	...	Jock McGowan
Geraldine Brophy	...	Gracie
Eddie Campbell	...	Hughie (as Edward Campbell)
Ben Chaplin	...	Lewis Mowbray
Peter Corrigan	...	Jimmy's Buddy #1
Brian Cox	...	Old Angus
Carl Dixon	...	Gunner Corbin
Alex Etel	...	Angus MacMorrow
Nathan Christopher Haase	...	Male Tourist
Craig Hall	...	Charlie MacMorrow
Ian Harcourt	...	Jimmy McGarry
Rex Hurst	...	Jimmy's Buddy #2
Bill Johnson	...	Clyde (as William Johnson)
Megan Katherine	...	Female Tourist
Elliot Lawless	...	Beach Kid

Also Known As:

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (International: English title) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some action/peril, mild language and brief smoking.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | SDDS | Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

USA:PG | UK:PG | Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:Atp | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | South Korea:All | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Malaysia:U | Peru:PT | Sweden:11 | Taiwan:GP | Australia:PG | Finland:K-7

Filming Locations:

Camperdown Studios, Camperdown Road, Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand

Company:

Beacon Pictures

Trivia:

The title, 'The Water Horse', is a reference to the kelpie, a malevolent beast of Celtic lore that would disguise itself as a horse to lure unsuspecting victims to it. Once the unfortunate soul had mounted the kelpie, it would drag him or her down to their watery death.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Angus first takes the egg into the workshop, you can see the door to the workshop is set in a recessed porch and it is cloudy. The next shot, as he enters the workshop, has the sun streaming through the glass in the door. Whilst it is feasible that the sun could have just come out, it would be impossible for it to be streaming through the glass, given the position of the door in the previous shot.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2008-01-05)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

If I Had a Talking Picture of You

Surprisingly entertaining for both adults and children

When my wife dragged me to this movie I thought I'd be bored. The trailers show nothing except the little monster growing quickly and swimming around happily. What I did not expect is the wonderful, and entertaining background story set in Scotland during WWII.

Now the film has a modern frame as well as the WWII story. An old man tells two young visitors to Loch Ness what they assume is a tall tale. Frames usually don't add much to movies but in this frame is an exception.

In WWII a young boy, who doesn't know his father was lost at sea, finds a strange egg. While the egg grows into a likable, gigantic plesiosaur, a strange man, who might be a German spy, starts as caretaker of the boy's father's estate, and a gunnery unit takes over the estates grounds. The captain of the gunnery unit takes a shine to the boy's Mom, and tries to instill discipline to the boy by treating him like a drill sergeant would a recruit. Meanwhile, the new caretaker decides to keep the boy's new pet a secret. and wins the respect of the boy's mother.

Although there is no real violence in this movie there is a killer (hunter) cook and some shooting. In fact there is a scene with cannon fire that might scare young children. And of course the cook has a tough bull-dog who likes to chase things.

The characters here are well developed and the acting and cinematography is superb. This movie will not disappoint.